Magalia woman, horse finish 100-mile Tevis Cup

MAGALIA &GT;&GT; Three and a half years of practice and failure paid off for JayaMae Gregory when she rode Asali, her Missouri fox trotter horse, across the finish line at the Tevis Cup in Auburn early Sunday morning.

Gregory and Asali finished the 100-mile endurance race 66th out of the 107 teams that finished. A total of 186 began the race at Robie Equestrian Park near Truckee and ended at Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn. Asali was the second Missouri fox trotter to complete the 100-mile race since 1979, and the other Missouri fox trotter completed the ride in 2011 when the 100 miles were shortened because the toughest canyons were clogged with snow.

Last year, Gregory attempted the Tevis Cup, but fell short when she and Asali were about 20 minutes late to the 55-mile checkpoint.

"It was right after the most difficult canyon, Devil's Thumb Canyon," Gregory said. "It was extremely hot. She pooped out on me."

Gregory walked the horse through the canyon, but they were a little too late to keep going.

"This year, I still did almost the entire thing on foot," Gregory said of tackling the Devil's Thumb. "But she let me tail her this year. With tailing, I grabbed her tail and she pulled me right out of that canyon."

At the checkpoint, a veterinarian checked Asali's pulse, which was at 44 beats per minute, well below the maximum of 64 beats per minute.

After horse and rider made it through the toughest part of the race, Gregory still wasn't sure if they were going to make it. But when they made it to the 68-mile checkpoint on time, she started crying tears of joy.

"I told my husband two weeks before that if we pass the Forest Hill vet check, we'll finish, and he said, 'When you pass Forest Hill, not if.'"

Gregory and Asali raised $3,000 for a girls' home in Kenya on her first try, but the duo didn't ride for charity this time. A registered nurse who also runs Spirit Quilts, which gives quilts to people in horse riding therapy, Gregory said she is organizing a charity ride this September to support the Kristina Chesterman Memorial Clinic in Nigeria, named after the 21-year-old nursing student who died after being hit by a drunken driver last September. More information can be found at Gregory's blog, www.enduranceriding.me.

Gregory started the Tevis Cup at 5:15 a.m. Saturday and rode into the fairgrounds in Auburn at 3:59 a.m. on Sunday. With veterinary stops and checks, her final time was 20 hours and 44 minutes.

After the riders completed the race, they received a belt buckle commemorating the achievement. Because it was Gregory's first time finishing, she got a "legacy" buckle, which is a buckle given by another racer who has finished the 100-miler multiple times. Barbara White, who has completed the Tevis Cup 33 times, chose to give Gregory her 2001 buckle. The legacy buckle has Gregory and White's names engraved along with the names of their horses.

"I haven't taken it off yet," Gregory said with a laugh.

Gregory's favorite part of the race was the Middle Fork Feather River crossing at the 88-mile mark.

"There were all these volunteers hooting and hollering and blasting music," she said. "And you're almost at the finish so you're tasting that buckle."

Gregory said she couldn't have done it without the volunteers at the race or her team, which included her husband, Gary Gregory, her son, Jakob Gregory, 12, a 10-year-old riding student, Bella Martindale, and a 15-year-old endurance rider, Madison MacPhail, who hopes to race the Tevis Cup next year. Her son Jakob also wants to ride the 100-mile race in the future.

The experience is still surreal for Gregory.

"When you're out the in the rugged wilderness riding the same area that miners rode historically; there's something completely magical about riding the Tevis."